Danny Granger played 19 minutes off the bench in his season debut. / Tim Fuller, USA TODAY Sports

by Mike Wells, USA TODAY Sports

by Mike Wells, USA TODAY Sports

AUBURN HILLS, Mich. - He sat on the sidelines for the first 115 days of the regular season, watching as his teammates beat some of the best teams in the league.

His other time was spent in the training and weight rooms, working to improve his injured left knee. He shunned every media interview request, not wanting to take the attention away from a team that was gradually making its way up the standings in the Central Division and Eastern Conference.

But with 3:39 left in Saturday's first quarter, Indiana Pacers swingman Danny Granger took his warm-up top off, adjusted the sleeve on his left arm and tightened his shorts as he made his way to scorer's table for the first time this season.

All eyes were on Granger, never mind that the Pacers were on their way to beating the Detroit Pistons 90-72 at the Palace of Auburn Hills.

This night was about Granger season debut. Everything else was a sideshow.

Will Granger be significantly rusty? Would he favor his left knee? Will he disrupt the team chemistry?

That's all everybody has wanted to know ever since the Pacers said Granger was getting close to returning to the lineup.

The first question was easy, of course Granger was rusty. That was expected, especially since he's traditionally been a slow starter.

The rest will take time to determine.

Granger scored two points on 1-of-10 shooting in 18 minutes off the bench.

"I was just glad to be out there," Granger said. "I was little nervous. I was happy to be out there running up and down and competing."

Granger, who normally doesn't show much emotion, couldn't hide his nervousness. He rotated between the bench and standing up along the baseline or behind the bench, constantly moving so that he could stay loose before checking in for the first time.

Pacers coach Frank Vogel tried to run some plays to get Granger, who said his left knee is still not 100 percent, some easy shots.

But it was miss after miss for him.

That wasn't shocking news. Saturday was his first actual game since Game 6 of their playoff series against the Miami Heat last May.

Vogel didn't want Granger to try to do too much while he was in the game because his rhythm, timing and conditioning is still out of whack.

"Rusty, it was expected," Vogel said. "Certainly he's played a lot better in the practices the last two weeks. First game back, first taste of it. That's why we're not saying we're going to throw him back in there for 30 minutes. It's going to take time."

Granger missed his first eight shots and went through spurts where he found himself thinking about his knee when he was on the court.

He felt a lot better about his knee when dove out of bounds into the row of fans sitting along the baseline in the fourth quarter.

That also allowed him to finally score his first two points of the season. He lingered behind everybody else, took in a long pass from Paul George and made a 15-foot jumper with 9:25 left in the game.

As they've done all season, the Pacers erupted off the bench in excitement. Granger's teammates mobbed him like he made a game-winning shot as he walked off the court during the next timeout.

"I knew I was going to hear it from the guys cause I had missed so many shots," Granger said laughing. "I was 0-for-8 at that point. I just couldn't get it going. I was just happy to score at that point."

Granger checked out for good with 7:51 remaining. He was met by center Roy Hibbert, who wrapped him up in a big bear hug, as he made his way to the bench.

"We're just happy to see him out there," Hibbert said. "We're a team, we're not selfish. We want to see everybody succeed. He's another weapon for us."